21 Movies We Can't Wait to See in 2012

The Dark Knight is set to rise, a new Spider-Man will be amazing, and Abraham Lincoln will be hunting vampires. The sci-fi and fantasy flicks coming out in 2012 seem to have everything a geek could hope for.

Underworld: Awakening

Underworld: Awakening

Release Date: Jan. 20

The fourth installment of the Underworld series marks the return of Kate Beckinsale, who starred as vampire Selene in the franchise's first two films. The movie picks up with Selene escaping from imprisonment and discovering humans have learned about the existence of vampires and Lycans, triggering a war to eradicate both immortal species. Sadly, there's no vamp-wolf hybrid Michael this time around, but there is a hybrid child who will no doubt cause chaos.

Rapid-fire fight sequences and supernatural stunts promise to pop dramatically in Underworld: Awakening, which was filmed in 3D on RED EPIC digital cameras that have six times the resolution of HD video and up to 120-frames-per-second shooting rates. Just like the first two Underworld films (as far as we're concerned, the prequel doesn't count), Awakening promises to be a guilty pleasure we watch every time it's on TV.

Chronicle

Chronicle

Release Date: Feb. 3

Shot in a found-footage format, Chronicle pairs metal-crunching action with dangerous superpowers set to warp the minds of a couple of prankster teenagers. When the three high school students first discover their new telekinetic powers, it's all fun and games. But as the trailer clearly shows, things take a violent turn.

The shaky-cam film, directed by newcomer Josh Trank and written by Max Landis (son of director John), is brimming with large-scale special and visual effects: cars crumbling under an invisible force, trucks inexplicably shoved off the road, and furniture shooting up through ceilings. We can't wait to find out how they pulled those off on a budget.